Preston Manning (left), former leader of the Reform Party, shakes hands with Ron Paul, former U.S. Republican primary candidate, shakes hands with at the Manning Conference in Ottawa on Friday, March 8, 2013. Manning said he still feels Christy Clark is the best leader for B.C.

OTTAWA — A leader of Canada’s conservative movement said Friday he still supports Premier Christy Clark despite her recent struggles and the occasional tensions between the B.C. Liberals and Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s federal government.

Reform party founder Preston Manning lauded Clark last year at the Manning Centre for Building Democracy’s annual gathering of Canadian conservatives, citing Clark’s credentials as a fiscal conservative.

The blessing was part of a broader strategy to show B.C.’s right-of-centre voters that, despite her Liberal roots, she was a legitimate torchbearer for small-c conservatives.

Clark, who at the time was waging a campaign to win back support taken by B.C. Conservative leader John Cummins, also hired several senior staffers who used to work with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Clark, in a storm of controversy over a leaked memo on ethnic vote-targeting and bracing for a May election, isn’t attending the 2013 Manning gathering of small-c conservatives from across Canada. Those former Harper staffers are, for a variety of reasons, no longer in her office.

There has also been growing friction between Victoria and Ottawa, with B.C. Liberals criticizing the Harper government on matters such as the closure of the Canadian Coast Guard rescue station in Kitsilano.

Manning was asked Friday if he had any regrets over giving Clark his blessing, given she has since raised B.C.’s corporate tax, vowed to block oilsands pipelines if strict conditions aren’t met, and has committed to introduce but not pass Senate reform legislation.

“No,” he replied during a news conference with Ron Paul, a former candidate in the Republican presidential primary.

He wouldn’t elaborate on his views of Clark’s performance over the past year, other than to say: “I think she’s having a rough time in British Columbia, but I think she’s preferable to what the alternative might be.”

Manning has in the past said he doesn’t support the political ambitions of Cummins, who was elected as a Reformer with Manning in the 1993 election, because vote-splitting on the centre-right always makes it easier for the New Democratic Party to assume power.

Another prominent former federal MP and one-time Harper government cabinet minister, Jay Hill, also said Friday he’s still backing Clark’s leadership.

“I think if you’re pragmatic about it, you pick the party and the leader that best represents your core values, and you support them through the good and the bad,” said Hill, a Fort St. John native who is a Calgary-based consultant.

“I’ll do whatever I can to support her and support the B.C. Liberals. My belief is that despite some of the tough decisions they’ve made, and despite some of the decisions that I wouldn’t have made, despite all that they’re still the best alternative for the people of British Columbia, and also for the people of Canada, because B.C. plays an increasingly important role in the economy of Canada.”

Pollster Andrew Turcotte, who at previous Manning Centre conferences has released surveys suggesting Canada is becoming more conservative, released a poll Friday suggesting the trend is shifting.

Since 2010, more Canadians identified more closely with the Conservatives than any other party, but the 2013 poll showed the Liberals with the edge – 26 per cent of Canadians identify with the Liberals, compared with 25 per cent for the Conservatives, 17 per cent for the NDP and five per cent for the Green party. The rest either didn’t know or said they didn’t identify with any party.

In B.C., Conservative fortunes have slid sharply, with 25 per cent of respondents identifying with the party, compared with 33 per cent in 2012.

The Tories also lost a similar chunk of support in Ontario – 35 per cent to 24 per cent – and Atlantic Canada — 26 per cent to 18 per cent.

Turcotte’s poll didn’t indicate what percentage of British Columbians identified with other parties.

The online poll of 1,524 Canadians was conducted Feb. 1-8, and is considered accurate to within 3.1 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

“There’s a retrenchment towards our (support) base. Conservative identification is higher in the Prairies than it was, and is declining everywhere else, including B.C.,” Turcotte said in an interview.

“My view is that Conservatives do well in government when people know what they stand for, and (in previous years) it was clear people identify Conservatives with fiscal responsibility. It’s not as obvious any more.”

He said the Harper Tories, struggling to maintain deficit-reduction targets, are losing ground because they’re acting more “like Liberals.”

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